Report: Man injured on first day of deer hunting in county

Victim accidentally shot in hand by youth

A 70-year-old man was shot in the hand while hunting in Manitowoc County during the first day of the nine-day hunting season on Saturday, according to a spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources.

According to King, a 17-year-old youth was shooting at a deer and his "shot missed its target and traveled about 280 yards and struck the victim in the hand." The victim was taken to an Appleton medical facility, King said.

King said he was unaware where the incident took place other than it was in the county and he did not know where the two parties were from. He did indicate that the pair were in separate hunting groups.

Further details were unavailable.

DNR state update

The DNR also reported two incidents involving falls from tree stands, one of which resulted in injuries in the state. Wardens say statistics show one in three hunters will suffer a tree stand fall in their hunting careers and strongly urge hunters to use safety harnesses.

Of the more than 600,000 licensed hunters taking to the field, about 25,700 were first-time hunters, and more than 32 percent of those were female and 35 percent were youths age 17 and under, indicating Wisconsin's long tradition of deer hunting is being passed along to a new generation of hunters.

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp hunting in Buffalo County reported a 13-year-old member of her hunting camp on his second year hunting got his first doe. She was thrilled to see "the light in his eyes, the excitement in his face and I don't think his feet were even touching the ground."

Stepp said she "had a really special morning...it was really beautiful out there," and even though she was not successful in getting a deer so far, she planned on heading back out into the field Sunday and will be encouraging everyone else to do the same thing. Stepp added she was very excited by the license figures that showed an increase in female and young hunters.

"Deer hunting is really part of the DNA of Wisconsin and it's what makes us a world deer hunting destination," she said. "Passing on tradition to new hunters, that is what is keeping the hunting heritage in Wisconsin alive. To me the deer season is about connection to the outdoors and connection to others... and when we get the women involved with hunting, along comes the family. Deer hunting in Wisconsin is all about family, friends, fun, and now females can be added to that list."

Kevin Wallenfang, DNR big game ecologist, said calls to wildlife managers around the state indicated good numbers of deer were being registered across the state.

"From a first day perspective it seems we have a lot of happy people out there," Wallenfang said. "As far as conditions go, I heard from some hunters that the only thing that would have made conditions a 10 would have been snow on the ground. It got a little warm in the afternoon, which probably slowed rutting activity, but I did hear from hunters in the morning who said they were still seeing bucks pursuing does. The fact that we are seeing good antler growth across the state, with most yearling deer showing forked antlers, is probably a result of the mild winter and early spring green-up."